A digest of the latest refugee news,
as reported by the world's media.

KOSOVO: SOME RETURN, NOT HARRASSED 17 May 99 – Something strange is going on in the ethnic Albanian village of Svetlje in northern Kosovo, once a hard-line guerrilla stronghold, where NATO accuses Serbs of committing genocide, reports the Los Angeles Times. An estimated 15,000 displaced ethnic Albanians live in and around Svetlje and hundreds of young men are everywhere. By their own accounts, the men are waiting with their families for permission to follow thousands who have risked going back home to nearby villages because they do not want to give up and leave Kosovo. "We wanted to stay here where we were born," said one man through a translator. "Those who wanted to go through Macedonia and on to Europe have already left. We did not want to follow." Ethnic Albanians interviewed in Svetlje said they haven't had any problems with Serbian police since the police allowed them to come back. [Refugees Return Home, Say They're Not Being Harassed – www.latimes.com]

KOSOVO: UN MISSION 17 May 99 – A UN exploratory mission, the first of its kind since the start of NATO bombing campaign on Yugoslavia, arrived in Belgrade yesterday, to evaluate humanitarian needs in the country, especially in Kosovo, reports AFP in Belgrade. "This is a combined humanitarian team that will be looking obviously at emergency, humanitarian needs, at the problem of the displaced, particularly in Kosovo," said Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the team. During its 10-day visit to Yugoslavia, the team would also be evaluating "needs of rehabilitation and reconstruction, especially for those who would be able to return to their homes in Kosovo," De Mello said. The UN team is composed of representatives of a number of UN agencies, including those from the UNHCR. The Guardian reports UNHCR has warned it will not go back until ethnic cleansing stops and it can provide protection for more than 500,000 displaced Albanians. [UN exploratory mission arrives in Belgrade – www.afp.com; UN risks return to Kosovo – www.guardian.co.uk]

MACEDONIA: NEW INFLUX? 17 May 1999 – Macedonia is bracing itself for a new influx of thousands of refugees after at least 1,200 refugees crossed the border at Blace this weekend, reports the Financial Times. The latest flow will put renewed pressure on Macedonia's already stretched resources. More than 45,000 refugees have been airlifted to countries outside the region, but more than 230,000 remain there. UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said: "There are probably tens of thousands more waiting to come to Macedonia," adding that the latest arrivals came as word spread inside Kosovo that it was possible again to cross the border. UNHCR had hoped to transfer several thousand refugees from Macedonia to Albania where sites have been identified for up to 60,000 refugees. However, only 200 people have agreed to be moved. Many have been deterred without guaranteeing they will still be eligible for humanitarian evacuation to countries such as Germany, Canada and the US. The BBC News reports UNHCR officials say some of the new refugees were driven from their homes by Serbian police while others, mainly from Urosevac, were prevented from buying food by Serbian authorities and so had no choice but to leave. New York Times adds refugees arriving in Macedonia said Yugoslav forces have killed more than 100 civilians in villages in the Drenica region. [Macedonia braced for big new Kosovar influx – www.ft.com; Refugees say Serbs withhold food – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Refugees Report Slaughter Of Civilians In Kla Region – www.nytimes.com]

MACEDONIA: PRESIDENT URGES FASTER EVACUATIONS 17 May 99 – President Kiro Gligorov of Macedonia yesterday urged the west to speed up the evacuation of Kosovo refugees from his country, as Hillary Clinton, the US first lady, toured the country's crowded refugee camps, reported the Financial Times this weekend. Gligorov, in an interview, singled out Britain, France and Italy as "lagging behind" other states in accepting refugees. He promised Macedonia would keep open its borders to new arrivals thought to be on their way from Kosovo. But he said the pledge was "linked" to European Union countries fulfilling their promises to take 100,000 refugees. "This should move at a much faster pace in order to create room for more refugees here and enable us to keep to international conventions [on refugees] of which we are signatories." President Gligorov also urged the west to provide more money for refugee aid and to buy more supplies locally to help support the Macedonian economy. [Macedonia calls on west to speed up the evacuation of refugees – www.ft.com]

MACEDONIA: HILLARY CLINTON, VIPs VISIT 17 May 99 – US First Lady Hillary Clinton visited Macedonia on Friday morning, to highlight the plight of Kosovan refugees and assure Macedonia that the US understands the stress that the influx has placed on it, reports the Los Angeles Times. At Brazda refugee camp, Mrs. Clinton announced the release of the first US$2m in a US$21m economic development package for Macedonia to help it create new small businesses. Several of the refugees with whom Mrs. Clinton spoke, said they were happy and surprised by her visit. They did not know she was coming until about an hour before she stopped into their tent. AFP reports almost every day some jet-setting VIP pops in to walk the dusty rows of crowded tents, chat with Kosovans, and beg the world not to forget their plight. Others last week included actors Roger Moore and Vanessa Redgrave; Bianca Jagger; Italian President Oscar Scalfaro; and NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected this week. The Guardian adds that aid agencies, facing signs of compassion fatigue, know there's no business like show business to keep donations coming in. [First Lady Hears Heart-Rending Story From Refugee Mother – www.latimes.com; VIPs lend celebrity glitter to Kosovo refugee camps – www.afp.com; Showbiz aid cuts compassion fatigue – www.guardian.co.uk]

ALBANIA: FEW CROSS BORDER AMID BOMBING 17 May 99 – NATO jets pounded Yugoslav targets close to the main border point between Kosovo and Albania for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday as only a handful of refugees came across, reports Reuters. Relief officials said it was not clear if the flow had been reduced in recent days because refugees feared being caught by NATO fire while heading for the border. Eyewitnesses reported at least 10 explosions by midday aimed mainly at the Kosovo town of Zhur beyond the border crossing at Morina, near Kukes. The refugees crossing into Albania on Saturday included an injured man carried by two others. He was said to have been wounded by Serb shelling near the town of Meja. [Fighting, few refugees, at Albanian border – www.reuters.com]

ALBANIA: 'EMERGENCY' ENDS 17 May 99 – The Albanian government has overcome the "emergency stage" of the humanitarian crisis caused by the influx of about 430,000 refugees from Kosovo, Information Minister Musa Ulqini said on Saturday, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. "We are now working on a medium-term programme for the refugees," said Ulqini. Refugee camps have been set up in several cities of Albania. The government has also turned formerly factories, military buildings, dormitories and other public facilities into refugee accommodation centres throughout the country. Ulqini also said that for the first time, after several days of evacuation, the number of refugees in Kukes had fallen below the figure of 100,000. About 6,500 refugees were evacuated in 48 hours. But the Los Angeles Times reports UNHCR's mass evacuation has taken less than 10% of the displaced Kosovans southward since it began Friday, but officials expect the pace to accelerate as new accommodation opens for 160,000 people along Albania's coast. "We have always said that refugee camps shouldn't be set up on borders. There is the risk of shelling, the risk of spillover of the conflict and the risk of infiltration of non-refugee elements," said UNHCR spokeswoman Melita Sunjic. But only those sleeping in the open or under plastic sheets are being swayed by the call to move out of Kukes. [Refugee 'emergency stage' overcome, Albanian minister says – www.dpa.com; Many Refugees May Have to Move Again – www.latimes.com]

ALBANIA: KOSOVANS KILLED ON BOAT TO ITALY 17 May 1999 – At least three Kosovan refugees died overnight Saturday when a boat smuggling more than 40 refugees from Albania to Italy hit a reef in the bay of Vlora off the southwestern Albanian coast, Italian officials said, reports AFP. The bodies of a woman and two children were found by Italian customs and navy boats, who carried out the rescue operation, said Captain Bruno Biagi. Thirty-nine others were injured in the accident, and "it is feared that three children are still in the water under the rocks," Biagi said, adding that the exact number of refugees aboard the craft was unknown. The smugglers fled the scene, he added. It is not yet known how the accident, which occurred shortly after midnight, happened. Thirty-eight of the injured were being treated in a Vlora refugee camp run by the Italians, while one seriously injured child was hospitalised in Tirana, Biagi said. [At least three Kosovo refugees die in boat wreck off Albania – www.afp.com]

MONTENEGRO: SERBS SEIZE MEN FLEEING 17 May 1999 – The Yugoslav army has seized up to 150 male Kosovo refugees as they tried to flee to Albania and Bosnia via Montenegro, local refugee organisations said yesterday, reports Reuters. Officials believed that the ethnic Albanians had been transported back into Kosovo, leaving their families stranded in Montenegro. "This is the first time that the army has taken men and stopped people from going to Albania. It is extremely alarming,'' said Dzema Nikaj, head of a refugee crisis centre in Tuzi, a small southeastern town near Albania. Montenegro's reformist government, which is strongly opposed to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, has denounced the army action and called on the military to leave the border areas. The Daily Telegraph reports the Yugoslav army tightened the noose around the increasingly insubordinate republic of Montenegro at the weekend when it rounded up about 100 ethnic Albanian refugees seeking sanctuary across the border in Albania. Le Monde reports UNHCR has asked the government to relocate refugees away from the tense border town of Rozaje. [Yugoslav army seizes Kosovo men in Montenegro – www.reuters.com; Montenegro refugees rounded up – www.telegraph.co.uk; Serb forces use same methods in Montenegro's Rozaje – www.lemonde.fr]

KOSOVANS: NATO CHIEF WANTS RETURNS BY WINTER 17 May 99 – Nato chief Javier Solana has said he wants the Kosovo Albanian refugees home this year, reports BBC News. "It is our wish, and we are doing our best so they can return home as soon as possible, in any case before the winter." He said he also expected to learn "dramatic facts" of alleged atrocities of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo once international troops had escorted the Kosovo Albanians home. The Washington Post reports US and European officials have stepped up work on how to restore order in Kosovo and resettle masses of refugees after 1.5 million ethnic Albanians were displaced and Kosovo's devastation altered many of the assumptions behind peacekeeping plans drafted by NATO before the bombing. Meanwhile Paul Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford University, in the Guardian said it's time to talk. Agree a ceasefire but insist on a UN military force in Kosovo. If it comes to a ground war, it may not be feasible to overrun Serb forces in Kosovo in the time-scale necessary and, even if Kosovo is occupied, the difficulties of maintaining control may be sufficiently high to dissuade refugees from returning. It could take up to two years to resettle the refugees, with all the implications that entails for caring for three-quarters of a million displaced people. [Nato: Refugees home by winter – http://news.bbc.co.uk; NATO Plans for More Troops in Kosovo to Handle Damage, Refugees – www.washingtonpost.com; Exit strategy – www.guardian.co.uk]

KOSOVANS: ALBRIGHT, COOK SAY FIGHT IS RIGHT 17 May 99 – We and our NATO allies initiated a campaign in response to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo because it was the right thing to do, say US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and British Foreign secretary Robin Cook in an op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday. Continuing that campaign is still the right thing to do. We will not stop until we have prevailed – created the conditions under which the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo can be reversed. It is time for a reminder of what this is all about. We are fighting to get the refugees home, safe under our protection. Their homes have been destroyed, their villages burned, their lives ruined by a regime determined to achieve ethnic purity and prepared to use cruel and violent means to achieve it. We are pursuing a settlement under which President Slobodan Milosevic would withdraw his forces and allow the deployment of an international security force, with NATO at its core, thus enabling the refugees to return in safety. We remain supportive of the political framework negotiated at Rambouillet under which the Kosovars would enjoy genuine self-government, and the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would be preserved. These are the terms of a fair settlement. If Milosevic accepted and began to implement them immediately, the NATO air campaign could end immediately. We are determined to persist in our efforts until Milosevic reverses course and the people of Kosovo are able to return, reunite and begin, with our help, to rebuild. [The Air Campaign Remains the Right Thing to Do – www.washingtonpost.com]

KOSOVANS: UNHCR COPES BADLY, SAYS REPORT 17 May 99 – A committee of British MPs has condemned UNHCR for its handling of the Kosovo refugee crisis, reports BBC News. They said UNHCR had not coped well when the crisis first broke and was still failing to meet refugees' needs. The International Development Committee report, published on Saturday, said: "UNHCR did not even make adequate preparations for the volume of refugees which it itself had predicted would flee from Kosovo . . . Several weeks into the crisis we have no sense that UNHCR has as yet taken control of the situation, providing clear direction, leadership and co-ordination." Committee chairman, Conservative MP Bowen Wells, said it was no excuse that UNHCR had been taken by surprise by the crisis. The report also highlights the failure of UNHCR to set up a registration system for refugees after they had their identity documents taken by Serb forces. It said little had been done to provide proper shelter for winter or sanitation for summer. BBC News separately reports UNHCR has attacked the report. UNHCR's London representative, Hope Hanlon, said the criticism was "regrettable." UNHCR was not consulted and in some cases it was based on inaccurate information, she said. UNHCR spokeswoman Judith Kumin said observers visit the camps for 24 hours, getting only a "snapshot" view. "It would be much better to see them working day after day, week after week and month after month in exhausting conditions," she said. [UN failing Kosovo refugees: MPs + UNHCR hits back at critics – http://news.bbc.co.uk]

KOSOVANS: COSTS COUNTED 17 May 99 – Officials in Brussels and Washington are being forced to produce numbers, however tentative, on the eventual costs for reconstructing the Kosovo region and taking long-term care of the hundreds of thousands of refugees, reports the Financial Times. The job of assessing the needs and of mobilising donors has been handed to a special task force formed last week by officials of the World Bank and the European Commission. Initial estimates suggest humanitarian assistance for coping with the refugees could amount to around US$780m based on a total of 967,000 refugees, a nine-month conflict and a 12-month period of return and resettlement. Meanwhile, Michael Emerson, a senior researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, also in the Financial Times says the European Union must add substance to its promise to draw up a Balkan stability pact. The Balkans need something as effective as a Marshall Plan. This should include emergency assistance and compensation to households and local authorities to accommodate refugees away from tent cities. [Reconstruction costed + After the war is over – www.ft.com]

CYPRUS: SERBS FLEE BOMBS 17 May 99 – With no end in sight to the NATO bombing campaign on Yugoslavia, growing numbers of Serbs are seeking safety in Cyprus, taking advantage of Greek-Cypriot sympathy for their Orthodox co-religionists, reports AFP in Nicosia. At least 120 Serb families have applied for asylum in the island since late March, UNHCR's Cyprus representative said. The Cyprus-Yugoslav Humanitarian Fund, a support group which raises funds to help Serbs fleeing the war, said up to a thousand Serb women and children had come to Cyprus via Bulgaria and Hungary since the beginning of the NATO bombing campaign. "It's mostly women and children coming here because a lot of the men are sending their families away. The men don't want to leave – they are waiting for the ground war," said a fund worker. The growing influx of Serbs fleeing the war is hampering the authorities' ability to process applications for full asylum. [Serbs seek refuge from NATO bombing campaign in friendly Cyprus – www.afp.com]

BOSNIA: SERBS SEEKING AID 17 May 1999 – The head of the Bosnian Serb refugee agency on Friday said it did not have enough money to take care of some 30,000 Serbs who had fled Yugoslavia since the NATO bombing campaign started on March 24, reports Reuters. Dragan Kekic, commissioner for refugees, told the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA that he would seek funds from UNHCR and the Serb republic's government for food, medicine and shelter. "The arrival of these unfortunate people – mostly women, children, elderly and sick – has caused new problems for the Serb republic Commissioner for Refugees, which is not in a position to find shelter and feed all of them," he told SRNA. [Bosnian Serbs struggle to cope with Yugo refugees – www.reuters.com]

This document is intended for public information purposes only. It is not an official UN document.